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Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Review of The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu

Ken Liu’s
first published story appeared in 2002, and over the next eight years only five
additional stories appeared.A fire lit
beneath him after, however, since 2010 Liu has been a machine.An astonishing eighty pieces of fiction
published in the five intervening years, the only thing more amazing is that
none of these works was a novel.But
finally in 2015 Liu has emerged in long form.A major switch in terms of style, The
Grace of Kings, book one in the Dandelion Dynasty series (trilogy?), is
perhaps the least and most expected story that could have emerged.

A sense of
humanism grounding the storm of short fiction Liu has produced to date, The Grace of Kings is likewise rooted in
history, society, culture, and the interaction among them.Looking at cycles of power, the effects of
war on a large, multi-ethnic archipelago, and the choices the people at the top
face as time moves forever forward, the novel is, however, a significantly more
in depth examination of these ideas than anything Liu has produced to date—a
650 page examination, in fact.

The Grace of Kings is thus an excellent
counter to the gush of grimdark currently on the market.Epic fantasy in the classic, Luo Gunagzhong
sense with steampunk tendrils, any discussion of The Grace of Kings needs to involve the canonical Chinese novel The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.Max
Gladstone goes into more detail in his blog than I will here about the
foundational qualities of the Chinese classic, but suffice to Liu has fully
utilized its crypto-historic mode, epic sweep, geo-political complexity,
military strategizing, narrative voice, plot pacing, breadth of time, and main
premise to create a story, or at least the beginning of a story, about an
empire fragmenting in the wake of the death of its emperor, and what becomes of
the myriad players in the game, after.The similarities cannot be emphasized enough.*

But most
importantly, Liu also looks beyond the horizons of the Chinese classic.Where Three
Kingdoms purports “a kingdom divided
must unite, and a kingdom united must divide,” Liu attempts to transcend
the inherent impasse via post-modern strategy: to take a broader view to the
subject populace, that it is more than just the egos commanding armies or
making right with their sword.

Book One
of a series, The Grace of Kings is a
stage setting; a representation of something similar to Three Kingdoms yetsomething
added.Myriad side stories conflate to
the main narrative, but the overall focus is on two friends, Mata Zyndu and
Kuni Garu, and their dealings with power.The former the scion of a noble and the latter a commoner, they each
take a hand in trying to overthrow the government in the wake of Emperor
Mapidere’s death.Side by side the two
fight until a deciding moment forces them apart, making enemies of
friends.But the split in the
relationship is just one phase.Liu
using the latter third of the novel to hint at things to come (and to fully
portray the futility of cycles of violence), the main storyline comes to a
satisfactory conclusion yet its obvious much more remains thematically to be
said.A Three Kingdoms foundation is built, but perhaps the grander
statement is yet to come.

“I decided to create a new fantasy land that resembles
continental China as little as possible, with a new mythology, pantheon, and
set of languages, cultures, and peoples, but whose social and philosophical
context clearly draw inspiration from Chinese and East Asian history. This was
designed to estrange the story from its source as well as from the colonial
gaze so that it could be perceived from a fresh perspective.”

I
oscillate on the success of this intention.On one hand were Liu to have used Chinese everything, certainly there
may have been accusations of imitation orlack of imagination.The narrative
style so similar to Chinese historical fiction, not to mention the
preconceptions Liu mentions the average Westerner has regarding China, his
larger agenda may have indeed been perceived as ineffective.That being said, a huge portion of the
narrative is Chinese.The “logogram”
character writing, chrysanthemums, chopsticks, torture until confession,
teahouses, poem recitation, drinking wine from bowls, casting yarrow sticks
(disguised as casting pebbles), the hand gestures, farewell statements (“It seems that good friends are always parting
too quickly.”), food (steamed pork buns, bamboo shoots, sorghum, etc,
etc.), the terracotta warrior mausoleum, Zhuge Liang (in female form), the
great philosopher promoting filial piety (Kon Fiji), despots (of which there
are more than a few in Chinese history to draw comparison), water clocks, gods
and spirits appearing in the form of beggars, the importance of calligraphy—on
and on goes the list of elements from Chinese culture and history directly and
indirectly transposed into the novel.It’s so much, in fact, that I’m not sure the blonde haired-blue eyed
peoples, secondary world, and non-Chinese naming are able to overcome it.I couldn’t stop myself picturing Chinese
people running around given how much of their backdrop is Chinese, and was
slightly jarred when their non-Chinese physiognomy was described.

But forced
to a side, the diversity of The Grace of
Kings is enough to make it singular.Liu is certainly attempting something more than cultural lionizing, and
the main aesthetic which makes a difference is the fantastical plot devices.
From airships to massive narwhals (like sandworms from Dune but in water), meddling gods to magical writing, Liu layers
elements that do not detract from the realism of the agenda while adding a spot
of color to liven what could have been dull, crypto-historical narration.I was torn on the gods: on one hand they are
not as meddling as Liu perhaps would have them be, while on the other they do a
wonderful job of making the text epic—of creating that proper distance from our
reality to the reality of the story, and therefore also a mirror to our
reality, something abstract yet distinct and relatable.

In the
end, The Grace of Kings is a
difficult novel to talk about with certainty as it is the first in a
series.One may conclude, however, that
Liu has his sights sets very high if tackling the Three Kingdoms quandary is on the list.I can say that Liu nails the voice of The Romance ofThree Kingdoms (it’s akin to the voice of the street-corner
historian rather than the a.g.o.n.i.z.i.n.g.l.y sloooow narratives of authors
like Robert Jordan or Brandon Sanderson), has created a massive game board and
list of players, and is trying to cover more than the average epic fantasy
themes of honor, loyalty, etc.Offering
material with more integrity than George R.R. Martin and his clones, the novel is
better acquainted with works such as Daniel Abraham’s Long Price quartet and Guy Gavriel Kay’s The Lions of Al-Rassan (for the empathetic presentation of friends
who become enemies), as well as David Anthony Durham’s Acaciaand Harry Harrison’s Eden
trilogies for the usage of epic fantasy to upend many of its common assumptions
regarding power and violence.All this
puts me at a loss regarding the Saladin Ahmed cover quote. I understand the
parallel to non-Anglo culture being used in an “Anglo” fantasy story, but
Ahmed’s creation is considerably lighter thematically than Liu’s, not to
mention the mode of writing is significantly different, and thus has a strong
chance of disappointing readers who don’t read reviews first…

*For those
interested, see the following comparison for just how similar the narrative
voice of The Romance of Three Kingdoms
and The Grace of Kings is:

The Romance of Three Kingdoms:

When
Guan Ping heard that Xu Huang was marching toward him, he went to meet the
enemy with his own unit.The two armies
faced and Guan Ping rode forth.After
three clashes with Xu Huang, Guan Ping was victorious and Xu Huang fled.The second lieutenant commander Lu Jian, took
the field; but he too fled in defeat after five or six clashes.Guan Ping gave chase some twenty li, dealing bloody slaughter as he rode.A report of fire in his city brought him up short.Realizing he had fallen into a trap, Guan
Ping wheeled around and went back to save Yan. But a force of well-deployed
troops confronted him; at their head was Xu Huang.Poised on his horse, banners flying above
him, he called out, “Guan Ping, worthy nephew.Have you no fear of death?The
southerners hold your Jingzhou now, yet you refuse to behave yourself here!”

In
great anger Ping gave rein, wheeling his horse and…**

**Excerpt
taken from the Beijing Foreign Languages Press edition of Three Kingdoms, page 1356-1357 (yes, 1356-1357), translated by Moss
Roberts.

The Grace of Kings:

Mata
Zyndu’s surprise attack from the sky was a complete success. The Cocru soldiers
quickly overwhelmed the small garrisons stationed at the city doors and turned
the walls of Zudi against the Dasu army.

Since
the gates were sealed, the army of fifty thousand outside could only mill
around the city’s walls helplessly as Mata’s men set fire throughout the city
and searched for Kuni. Only a few dozen Dasu men managed to make their way back
into the city using battle kites—among them Mün Çakri and Than Carucono, who
could not bear the thought of abandoning their lord. But this was like trying
to put out a fire using teacups, and the Dasu army soon gave up.

Captain Dosa, Mün Çakri, Rin Coda, and Than Carucono rushed into the
mayor’s house, where Kuni and his family were staying, with the bad news.

2 comments:

Grace of Kings wasn't even on my radar until I chanced upon it recently. It instantly connected with me. Maybe it's the "wuxia" theme, something I've always liked. Anyway, great review! It reaffirms why I am liking this book so far, 1/3 in.